W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose [Hardcover]

Mick Wall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2008

A journalist who had unprecedented access to Guns n’ Roses at their peak delivers a big, brash history of the band’s charismatic, fantastically talented and idiosyncratic leader—W. Axl Rose

Even in the world of rock and roll, a figure like Axl Rose doesn’t come along very often.  Mercurial and brilliant, deluded and imperious, Rose defies easy description or analysis. Few people have studied Rose as closely as Mick Wall has.  Traveling with Guns n’ Roses and writing about them in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wall first earned Axl’s trust and later his fury. 

W.A.R. goes back to the beginning, revealing Rose’s childhood influences (and how he got his name), and tracking the birth of the band and their enormous success with albums like “Appetite for Destruction” and “Use Your Illusion.”  With fame and money came substance abuse and infighting, and a lead singer who morphed from eccentric to seemingly unhinged.  Wall’s book is richly detailed and offers surprising new views on some celebrated Guns ’n Roses and Axl Rose incidents, including:

--the death of two fans at a concert in Donington Park in England,

--Rose’s fall-out and eventual split from every one of the other original Gn’R band members,

--fights with perceived enemies like Kurt Cobain, Motley Crue’s Vince Neil and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger,

--Rose’s consistent refusal to show up at concerts throughout his career,

--Axl becoming a virtual recluse at his Malibu mansion for most of the past 15 years. 

The book goes right up to the present, to explore why a new Guns n’ Roses—with a reconfigured band—has toured but still hasn’t released their long-awaited album “Chinese Democracy”, now over a decade in the making at a cost of over $13 million. W.A.R. is about great music, bad relationships, and the public and private personas of one of the most controversial performers of our time.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MICK WALL has been a rock journalist since 1977 and currently writes for Mojo, Guitar World, Classic Rock and several other newspapers and magazines around the world. He has also worked in music public relations, handling Dire Straits, Black Sabbath, The Band and Journey, among others.   His books include best-selling biographies of Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden, Bono and the legendary British DJ John Peel as well as 1992’s Guns N' Roses: The Most Dangerous Band in the World. He lives in England.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312377673
• ISBN-13: 978-0312377670
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An informative but superficial biography, February 18, 2008

By 

Sastenio - See all my reviews

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This review is from: W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose (Hardcover)

If you don't already know too much about Axl Rose and Guns 'n' Roses, this is a very informative read. On the other hand, there's nothing here that's really new. Most, if not all, of the information is from secondary sources (published articles and interviews, website posts, etc.) rather than original research. It's as much a biography of the original members of Guns 'n' Roses as about W. Axl Rose. Their stories are inextricably interwoven--it's only to be expected that a bio of Axl will cover a lot of GNR territory; however, as the title promises a bio of Axl, I was expecting a little more than I got. It's tempting to compare this book with the recently published biography of ex-GNR guitarist Slash, but I won't, because Slash was cool enough to give us a window into his own life in the writing of that book and was completely on board with its content, while this bio of Axl is, as the title says, unauthorized.

It does cumulate to some degree the timeline of Axl's *still* unreleased CD Chinese Democracy, and I came away with a slighly better understanding of the mystery behind its perpetual delay. Writer Mick Wall also covers the known facts of Axl's seclusion and the emotional and legal entanglements of the years following the disintegration of the original Guns 'n' Roses, the evolution of the "new" Guns 'n' Roses, and the persistent striving toward perfection that seems to inform (and torment) every choice made by Axl Rose.

While this is a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to know something about the provocative frontman to one of the world's biggest rock bands and how it all went down, as a biography W.A.R. fails to meet its own challenge. True biography requires much more in-depth research into the biographer's subject, with input from the primary players in the life of the subject, from the subject him/herself when possible, and it requires a willingness to delve in a balanced, serious way into the influences and motivations of the subject in order to see the large framework of a life and its influence, and what that life can contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the world we inhabit. Axl and his raw genius deserve as much. Hopefully his story will one day be told with the honesty it deserves.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The lives of Axl Rose..., March 9, 2008

By 

Daniel Maltzman (Arlington, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose (Hardcover)

To be blunt, anyone who is a halfway decent writer, who has been following the saga of Axl Rose/GN'R over the years, could have written this book. There is really *nothing* new here--no new insights, no new information, no secrets revealed--nada. It's a mess--just every rumor and known fact, strung together, with nothing of value to any fan or anyone curious in learning more about Axl Rose.

And Wall--yeah, we know that you have a beef with Axl--but couldn't you have been just a little more objective, instead of using spin to paint as unfavorable picture of Axl Rose as possible? For example, when discussing the band's 2002 and 2006 tours, why did you only focus on the negative reviews, and not mention any of the positive ones? When discussing "the Spaghetti Incident?," why note that it was "poorly received," when in addition to some negative feedback, it also got 3.5 Stars from ROLLING STONE and other positive reviews, such as the one from Entertainment Weekly? And these are just a few examples. And what's with the snide remarks, one after the other? It's going on 20 years since "Get in the Ring" was released, time to move on...

To be honest, "W.A.R. The Unauthorized Biography of W. Axl. Rose" says more about Mick Wall than Axl Rose. This book is nothing more than the bitter ramblings of a hack--a mediocre journalist, in the guise of a book.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Certainly Not An Objective View of Axl's Life, February 21, 2008

By 

K. Turner "kbt24" (Hartford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose (Hardcover)

I'm very torn about this biography by Mick Wall.

I should first say that the biography can be very enjoyable to read. There is, however, something that keeps getting in the way of making this book truly memorable.

Many people have issues with Axl Rose and it is clear that Mr. Wall is no exception. It is also obvious that he has not "moved on" from the falling out they had many, many years ago. Mr. Wall will have several paragraphs of objective storytelling and then ruin the whole thing but putting in a snide, irrelevant comment. These comments are frequent and tiring. Certainly, Axl is not an angel but instead of making Axl look bad, they make Mr. Wall seem self-important and childish.

I also read the autobiography by former Guns N' Roses guitarist, Slash Slash. Slash's book handles his issues with Axl in a much more objective and mature manner. I would recommend Slash's book over Mr. Wall's book any day.